Build a Rural Urgent Care Clinic for Rural Americans

Americans young and old sometimes need professional medical care, but not all medical cases are serious enough to warrant a visit to a hospital’s emergency room (ER). Emergency care is best reserved for patients in life-threatening condition, while more ordinary and minor health problems are best taken care of at an urgent care center. Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs may look into urgent care start up costs because they want to get into the urgent care business, which may prove lucrative. After all, everyone needs medical care sometimes, and these urgent care centers often have pharmacies in them, too. But what does it cost to start an urgent care clinic? Someone wondering “what does it cost to start an urgent care clinic?” should hold off on investing their capital until they get consulting for urgent care centers, and they can inquire “what does it cost to start an urgent care clinic?” along with “where should I build it?” or “should it have a pharmacy?”

The Business of Urgent Care Centers

Someone wondering “what does it cost to start an urgent care clinic?” may find themselves getting into a robust and widespread business. The very concept of a walk in clinic in particular dates back to the year 2000, and ever since then, they have been built in great numbers across the United Stats. By the year 2016, over 2,000 of them were up and running, and more are being built all the time from coast to coast. Estimates say that as of the year 2018, over 2,800 such clinics were in operation. What is more, there is more than one way to build such a clinic, and some of them are found in other buildings. Retail clinics are a good example, those built into large retailers such as Target, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens. The first retail clinic was built in Twin Cities, Minnesota, in the year 2000, and many more are in operation now. Meanwhile, other such clinics can be found in hospitals, and intuitive place to build a clinic. Guests at hospital clinics may get separate care and meet different staff than that of the hospital at large.

This makes for a big business. Statistics show that on average, 19% of American households have visited an urgent care clinic sometime in the past 12 months, and as of 2018, there were 14 times as many such clinics as there were in 2008. Altogether, this adds up to a value of $1.4 billion back in 2016, and this is with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 20% that may continue to the year 2025. Where and why should someone build one of these clinics?

Launch a Clinic

An entrepreneur will, of course, start with the “location” aspect of starting a business. Strip malls are often a good place to build these clinics, and these malls can be found all across the United States and Canada. Consumers enjoy the convenience of these open-air malls and the ease of finding parking for them, making them a fine place to put a clinic. Such malls often have a large, free-standing sign showing the signs for each business located there, helping passing Americans find the clinic there. And as mentioned above, some such clinics are found inside retailers or hospitals, and such a facility that does not already have a clinic may soon get one.

Rural communities are a fine place to build such a clinic. Most American towns and cities have several, but some rural communities may not have one at all, and residents may have to travel far to visit one. If an entrepreneur builds an urgent care clinic in that rural area, the locals may greatly appreciate that and give it a lot of business. In that rural community, an entrepreneur may renovate an area in a strip mall or retailer and build the clinic, or they may in fact hire construction crews who will create a free-standing building that houses that clinic. Commercial real estate often proves cheaper than that in large towns or cities, which may make it more cost-effective to build there. On top of that, the builder may weigh in the costs of ads and signage, and hiring staff and getting a steady local supplier, too.